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Esri Expands World Imagery with Airbus High-Resolution Basemap Coverage for 2,000 Cities Worldwide

New Airbus Imagery Enhances World Imagery Basemap as Part of Broader Expansion Announced at 2026 Esri User Conference

  • Esri is enhancing its World Imagery basemap through new agreements with Airbus, Vantor, and Nearmap, announced during the 2026 Esri User Conference.
  • Airbus will begin delivering 30 cm basemap imagery for approximately 2,000 cities worldwide starting in the second half of 2026.
  • Airbus basemaps provide highly accurate, color-consistent, nearly cloud-free coverage designed to deliver fresher and more detailed urban imagery.
  • Additional enhancements include expanded metropolitan coverage from Nearmap and continued global basemap updates from Vantor.

REDLANDS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At the 2026 Esri User Conference (UC), the global leader in location intelligence announced a significant enhancement to its World Imagery basemap through a new agreement with Airbus. The collaboration will enable Esri to provide ArcGIS users with high-resolution imagery coverage for approximately 2,000 cities around the world through the addition of the new Airbus, Nearmap, and Vantor imagery. The added data is part of an enhanced imagery initiative for the World Imagery Basemap, the most widely used map service in ArcGIS, and was highlighted during this year’s Esri UC Plenary.

Beginning in the second half of 2026, Airbus will deliver 30 cm imagery designed to provide more current and detailed visual context for ArcGIS users worldwide. Airbus imagery is highly accurate, color-consistent, and provides nearly cloud-free coverage with minimized haze and seasonal variation between contiguous images.

As part of the broader World Imagery enhancement program announced at the 2026 UC, Esri also finalized agreements with Nearmap and Vantor. Nearmap’s 20 cm vertical imagery will be integrated and regularly updated across 200 metropolitan areas in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, while Vantor will continue providing the global imagery foundation for World Imagery, including committed refreshes for hundreds of cities and upgrades to 15 cm imagery in select major urban areas.

“Airbus Defense and Space has been delivering accurate and consistent imagery for more than 35 years and we are excited to take this next step collaborating with them,” said Deane Kensok, chief technology officer for ArcGIS content at Esri. “The enhanced imagery Airbus brings to Esri’s collection of basemap data will better help to support the mapping and analysis workflows of organizations across government, commercial, nonprofit, and academic sectors."

To learn more about World Imagery and the latest enhancements to ArcGIS Living Atlas, visit livingatlas.arcgis.com and read What's New in World Imagery – July 2026.

About Esri

Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in hundreds of thousands of organizations globally, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofit institutions, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial technology and analytics, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions that leverage a geographic approach to solving some of the world's most complex problems by placing them in the crucial context of location. Visit us at esri.com.

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